In recent years, electric connectors having numerous terminals are being used in the field of automobiles and the like, and are continually become more and more advanced. With an electric connector having numerous terminals, a large force is necessary to mate together connectors and release the connection. Therefore, in the field of automobiles and the like, a lever-type connector to mate with and release from a mating connector utilizing effect of boosting by a lever is used.
FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional lever-type connector, which includes a connector housing 110 receiving a contact (not illustrated in the drawing), a pair of sliders 120 accommodated in the connector housing 110, and a lever 130 that can be rotated relative to the connector housing 110.
The connector housing 110 includes a slider receiving slot 111 that receives the respective sliders 120. Moreover, a wire cover 140 that covers an electrical wire lead out from the contact (not illustrated in the drawing) is attached on the rear surface side of the connector housing 110.
A cam groove 121 is provided on the respective sliders 120 into which a cam pin 210 of a mating connector 200 is inserted. Moreover, a rack 122 is provided on the respective sliders 120, which engages with gears 131 of the lever 130. By rotating the lever 130, the gears 131 of the lever 130 drive the rack 122 for each slider 120, moving the sliders 120 in the left-and-right direction (left-and-right direction in FIG. 13). By moving the sliders 120 in the left-and-right direction, the cam grooves 121 of the sliders 120 direct in and push out the cam pins 120 that are inserted into the cam grooves 121. In this manner, the lever-type connector 100 can mate with and release from the mating connector 200 by rotating the lever 130.
When assembling the lever-type connector 100, a contact is first received in the connector housing 110 that receives the sliders 120, and the wire cover 140 and the lever 130 are then attached to the connector housing 110.
When attaching the lever 130 to the connector housing 110, teeth of the gears 131 of the lever 130 are positioned to engage teeth of the rack 122 according to a predetermined configuration. As a result, the lever-type connector 100 adopts a configuration that allows temporary fastening of the sliders 120 at predetermined mating positions. Additionally, projections (not illustrated in the drawing) are provided on the sliders 120, and these projections join with depressions (not illustrated in the drawing) provided on the slider receiving slots 111 of the connector housing 110.
In recent years, the size of these lever-type connectors has become smaller, wherein a slider is received within a housing which does not allow the slider to be seen from the outside. Furthermore, the slider does not protrude outside of the housing even upon movement. As a result, the slider cannot be seen from the outside, and position of the slider within the housing cannot be detected externally. Therefore, with the type of lever-type connector from which the slider cannot be seen from the outside, even in the case where displacement of a slider that has been temporarily fastened at a mating position within a housing, because of impact or the like during transportation, that displacement of the slider cannot be detected. Moreover, with the lever-type connector, if attachment of a lever is carried out in a state where displacement of a slider has occurred within a housing, gears of the lever and a rack of the slider are not properly engaged with together, nor can mating with and releasing from a mating connector be carried out.
Namely, with the type of lever-type connector from which the slider cannot be seen from the outside, since displacement of the slider cannot be detected externally, there is a problem in that the gears of the lever cannot properly engage with a rack for a slider when attaching the lever.